The invention relates to a fastening means, a device for mounting such a fastening means, and a device for reading information from such fastening means.
Examples of fastening means in the form of bolts are disclosed in DE 198 28 700 A1. In these fastening means the information storage means are located so as to be protected: either surrounded on all sides by the bolt material or embedded in a supplementary plastic material, and situated additionally as required in a drilled hole running deeply into the bolt. Such fastening means require relatively expensive read/write devices through which individual data for each bolt may be read into the information storage means, for example such characteristics as the pretensioning force for the bolt in the bolt connection created.
The fastening means permit documentation of the bolt connections created and relate especially to high-value and thus expensive bolts such as those used, for example, in the aerospace industry. An additional aspect of these is the fact that any defective bolt connection is merely documented, and not prevented from occurring in the first place.
Fastening means, for example, in the form of bolts containing alphanumeric information which has been impressed or cast-en-bloc into the bolt head—for example containing information such as the bolt strength; however such approaches are not, due to the high molding costs, intended to provide more individualized information such as identification of the bolt type as determined by its dimensions and thread form. Such fastening means are relatively inexpensive to produce.